Method of and means for decopperizing rayon or artificial silk thread



c. c. JESSEN 1,925,097

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR DECOPPERIZING RAYON OR ARTIFICIAL SILK THREAD Sept. 5, 1933.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 15, 1929 CHARLES C. Jzssew,

c. c. JESSEN 1,925,097

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR DECOPPERIZING RAYON OR ARTIFICIAL SILK THREAD Sept. 5, 1933.

Filed May 15, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SWIM (TM/m5 C Jwsav,

Patented Sept. 5, 1933 more!) STATES METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR DECOPPER- IZENG RAYON OR THREAD ARTIFICIAL SILK Charles C. Jessen, Passaic, N. J., assignor to Napon Rayon Corporation, Clifton, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application May 15, 1929. Serial No. 363,208

6 Claims.

This invention relates to .a method of and means for decopperizing rayon or artificial sill: thread, and simultaneously skeining the same.

It is common practice to conduct the rayon thread manufactured by the cupra ammonium process through a bath of dilute sulphuric acid for: the purpose of removing the residual copper sulphate left in the thread, as a result of the manufacturing process. The usual practice has been to wind the thread from the cake formed in the centrifuges of the spinning machines upon spools which are caused to rotate in the dilute sulphuric acid bath. These spools, when full, are removed from the sulphuric acid bath and mounted upon mandrels by which they are rotated, in a water bath, where the thread is washed free of the residual dilute sulphuric acid. The thread is then dried and unwound from the spools upon swifts, and in the form of skeins, ready for the market. Much difiiculty has been experienced, with the methods heretofore employed, due to the tangling of the skein's, and it has been necessary to lace the skeins in order to prevent excessive tangling. However, a great deal of loss is occasioned by the tangling of the threads of the skeins between the time that it is dried and the time that the lacing is effected.

Under the method of the present invention, I am able to form the thread into skeins while it is still in a wet condition, and I wash and dry the thread while still in a skein form, and under such conditions that lacing of the skein is not necessary.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. l is a diagrammatic plan view of one form of apparatus, which may be employed in carrying out the invention,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the decopperizing tank, and with the swifts partly in elevation and partly in section,

Fig 3 a front elevation of the structure of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of one of the skeins after formation, showing the same associated with the washing apparatus.

Like numerals designate corr sponding parts in all of the figures of the drawings.

In the drawings, 5 designates a tank containing a decopperizing bath 6, of dilute sulphuric acid. This acid also contains copper sulphate and sodium sulphate formed by the action of the acid on the precipitated thread. Consequently, the

swifts used must be made of acid resistant material. I prefer to use celluloid, and, in the particular construction chosen for purposes of illustration, the swifts are'made up of the circular back plates '7, to which cylindrical drums 8 and hubs 9 are cemented. The hubs serve as means by which the swifts may be mounted upon a shaft 10.

The hub of the innermost swift is provided with a pin 11, which projects into a collar 12 of the shaft 10, while the hub of the outermost swift carries a pin 13 which projects into an opening formed in the hub 9 of the innermost swift. The outer end of the shaft is split, as indicated at 14, and is slightly swelled at its outer end, so that after the swifts have been forced on the shaft they cannot slide off. The shaft 10 passes through a bearing block15, and is provided with collars 16, upon the opposite sides of said block. The block 15 is trunnioned at 1'7, in a suitable support 18. The shaft is driven by a worm gear 19, which meshes with a corresponding worm gear 20, on a drive shaft 21. In practice, a singleoperator takes care of a number of swifts, and he passes from one to the other, removing the slreins and resetting the apparatus to continue the decopperizing and skeining operation.

The mounting of the shaft 10 in the trunnioned bearing block 15 renders'it possible for the operator to stop any one of the shafts 10 without stopping the corresponding shaft by merely tipping the shaft bodily upon said bearing in a vertical plane to move the worm wheel 19 out of mesh with the worm wheel 20. A catch (not shown) may be provided to hold the shaft in such tipped position, or the frictional engagement between trunnion 17 and support 18 may serve to hold the shaft in tipped position.

When thread is to be skeined, rubber or other elastic bands 22 are slipped upon thedrums 8. The rayon thread 23 is led from the centrifuge pets 24 through overhead guides 25, and a laterally reciprocating transverse arm 26 to the peripheries of said rubber bands, upon which the thread is wound, in much the same manner that the thread has heretofore been wound directly upon spools which rotate in a dilute sulphuric acid. However, in the present instance, the drums and bands are of much larger diameter than the spools heretofore employed, and after the desired amount of thread has been wound upon the bands, they are pulled from the drums 8 and hung over a pole. The skein of thread is then lifted from these rubber bands or belts, and falls to the elongated loop formation illustrated in Fig. 4.

These skeins are then hung upon a pole 27, which is conducted to a Washing machine, which may be a machine of the type shown in my copending application, Serial No. 363,209, filed on the 15th day of May, 1929. In the washing machine of the application aforesaid, the poles, with the skeins thereon, are carried beneath washing troughs 28, to which water is supplied through pipes 29, from tanks 30, and the water is permitted to flow gently over the skeined thread, and the latter is washed in unlaced condition. After washing, the thread is dried and it will be seen that by virtue of this method, the thread is never handled in a dry condition, except after it has been brought to skein form. It is the light and fluffy condition of the thread, and the presence of minute particles of the thread which project from the main body, after being dried, that causes it to so readily tangle. By bringing the thread to skeined form, while still wet, its tendency to tangle is eliminated.

It will be observed that the rubber bands 8 are, in effect, collapsible supports, upon which the thread is wound in criscross or diamond shaped fashion. The collapsing of the rubber bands, after being removed from the drums 8, permits the body of skeined thread to be readily lifted therefrom, and placed upon a pole or other support, as described.

When the rayon is skeined in the wet state, the diamond shaped pattern formed by the crossing of the threads, is better preserved, and the skein is more easily unwound thereafter, than when the rayon is skeined in a dry state. The winding of the rayon upon the rubber band in the manner set forth, i. e., in a diamond shaped pattern, aids in maintaining the skein in proper form in the removal of the same from the rubber band, and in its mounting upon the pole by which it is carried through the washing process.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise apparatus herein shown and described, nor to the particular sequence of steps described. It is apparent that the idea of winding the silk during the decopperizing operation, upon a support capable of being collapsed, so that the silk need not be unwound therefrom, but may be removed bodily in skein form, is of utility and value, irrespective of whether the skein is promptly removed from the rubber band, or not. I prefer to remove the skein from the rubber band as described, but it is to be understood that it is within the scope of the invention to leave the skein on the rubber band until after the washing operation, and then collapse the band and remove the skein.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination with a decopperizing bath, of a swift rotating therein, said swift comprising a drum and a removable flexible and elastic band closely surrounding the drum and supported by said drum.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a decopperizing bath, of a swift rotating therein, said swift comprising a drum, and a removable rubber band closely surrounding the drum and supported by said drum.

3. A device of the character describe-d, comprising a decopperizing bath, a shaft mounted to tip in a vertical plane, a drum carried by said shaft, and a flexible rubber band upon said drum.

4. A device of the character described, comprising a decopperizing bath, a rotative shaft mounted thereover and adapted to tip in a vertical plane, driving connections for said shaft, operable when the shaft is in lowered position, a pair of rotative drums upon the shaft, and removable rubber bands upon the peripheries of said drums.

5. The combination with a rotative, substantially circular support, of a band of flexible and elastic material mounted upon the periphery thereof and means for winding silk in skein form thereon, said band being of such a nature as to permit its bodily removal with the skeined silk from said support and of such a degree of flexibility as to assume an elongated loop form along with the skeined silk when removed from the support.

6. The combination with a rotative support, of a band of flexible and elastic material mounted upon the periphery thereof, said band being of much greater diameter than width, and means for winding thread in skein form upon said band, said band being bodily removable with the skeined thread from said support and the material of the band being sufficiently thin and of such a degree of flexibility as to permit the slipping of the skeined thread in skein form therefrom.

CHARLES C. JESSEN. 

